Cabinet construction



y 1941. o. H. YOXSIMER 2,242,335

' CABINET CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Jan. 28, 1957 Patented May 20,1941 2,242,335 CABINET CONSTRUCTION Orland H. Yoxsimer,

to Westinghouse Pennsylvania Continuation of application Springfield,Mass., assignor Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa.,

a corporation of Serial No. 122,748,

January 28, .1937. This application May 24,

1940, Serial No.

3 Claims.

This application is a continuation of my copending application, SerialNo. 122,748, filed January 28, 1937. My invention relates torefrigerator cabinets and has for an object to provide an improvedbreaker strip and cabinet construction for retaining or fastening thebreaker strip to the cabinet.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a cabinet constructionwherein the use of nails, screws, and the like for fastening the breakerstrip to the cabinet are dispensed with.

It is still another object of my invention to utilize a portion of arefrigerator cabinet construction for retaining the heat breakerinplace,

and to thereby reduce the number of parts and the costvof constructionof such cabinets.

It is still a further object of my invention to provide an improvedconstruction for retaining the sealing gasket and the breaker strip of arefrigerator cabinet in place.

It is another object of my invention to provide an improved doorconstruction for refrigerator cabinets.

These and other object are effected by my 1 invention as will beapparent from the following description and claims taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet provided with a doorembodying one form of my invention; V

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the door taken online IIII of Fig. i;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the edge of the door shown inFig. 1 taken on line m m of Fig. 2; and,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of a door constructedin accordance with a second embodiment of my invention.

Referring specifically to the drawing for a detailed description of thefirst embodiment of my invention shown in Figs. 1 to 3, numeral Mdesignates generally a refrigerator cabinet enrbodying a food storagecompartment it having an access opening it and a door for closing theaccess opening, generally indicated at it. The cabinet is formed in theusual manner from an outer metallic shell 65 and an inner metallic shellit with a breaker strip El extending therebetween peripherally of theaccess opening 83.

The door it is formed from an outer metallic shell is and an innermetallic shell or door pan as. with heat insulation 25 disposedtherebetween. The door pan is is provided with a flange 22 peripherallyofthe edge of the door it, which flange extends toward the outer shellit but is spaced therefrom. The outer shell 18 is provided with aportion 23 which is bent back upon itself to overlap the front marginalportions of the cabinet H peripherally of the access opening l3. Aflange member 24 is fastened to the inner side of the outer shell I8peripherally of the door preferably by welding and a portion 25 thereofextends toward but is spaced from the edge of portion 23 of the outershell which overlaps the front of the cabinet ll. A sealing gasket 26,preferably made of soft rubber in the form shown, is retained betweenthe edge of the portion 23 of the outer shell and the edge of theportion 25 of the flange 2d and extends completely around the edge ofthe door. The gasket 26 contacts the front marginal portions of thecabinet II when the door is closed and seals the food storagecompartment 12. c 1

A breaker strip .21 is provided to close the space between the inner andouter shells, and to provide a heat break therebetween, and ispreferably formed of anon-metallic, non-hygroscopic relatively rigidmaterial such as, for enample, molded cellulose material'impregnatedwith a resinous condensate product. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, 'theouter edge 38 of the breaker I stripg2'l is retained in place on thedoor by providing a strip of metal 28 which is preferably spot-welded tothe flange 26 and which forms therewith a groove or depression 29 inwhich the edge 30 of the breaker strip is received or retained.Obviously, the member 28 may extend completely around the door, orseparate pieces may be provided to form, with the flanges 2s, aplurality of pockets to receive the edge 36 of the breaker strip. Theinner edge 3! of the breaker strip 21 is retained in place with respectto the inner door pan I9 by a piece of strip metal 32 bent to engage theedge of the breaker strip and the edge of the flange 22, in the mannercompletely described and claimed in the copending application of G. F.Forsthoefel, Serial No. 103,074, filed September 2.9, 1936, for Cabinethave provided an improved breaker strip cabinet construction in whichthe use of nails,

extends toward, but is spaced from the outer shell 42. The outer shell42 is bent back upon itself to form a portion 45, which overlaps thefront marginal portions of the cabinet II and which is then bent to.form a depression or groove 46 and a flange 41 extendin toward theflange 44 in spaced relation thereto.

-'A breaker strip 48, formed of the same material and in the same shapeas the breaker'strip 21 shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and a sealing gasket 49are attached to the door 40 in the following manner. The sealing gasket49 is provided with a sealing portion 5| which is supported by theoverlapping portion 45 of the outer shell 42, and

with a retaining portion 52 which conforms with the shape of thedepression 46 of the outer shell 42. The outer edge is inserted in thedepression 46 and is retained therein. The other edge 54 of the breakerstrip is retained in place by a metal strip 55 same manner as set forthwith respect to the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, and corner clips,similar to those shown at 33 in Fig. l, clamp the inner and outer shells4| and 42 together with the breaker strip 48 and retaining portion 52 ofthe sealing gasket therebetween, thus retaining the breaker strip andsealing gasket in place on the door 40.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that a screws, and the like areeliminated and in which the number of parts and the cost of manufactureare reduced. It will also be apparent that, although the improvedconstruction is illustrated as applied to a door construction alone, itis equally applicable to the body of the refrigerator without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. The wordscabinetconstruction and the like in the claims are, therefore, intendedto apply either to the cabinet body or to the access door.

While I'haveshown my invention in several forms, it will be obvious tothose skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is of variousother changes and modifications without departing from the spiritthereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall beplaced thereupon as are imposed by the prior 53 of the breaker strip 48inthe' art or as are specifically set forth in the appended .claims.

What I claim is: 1. In refrigerator cabinet construction, the

combination of inner and outer metallic shells, a

flange associated with one of the shells, extending towards the othershell and spaced therefrom, a breaker strip for closing the spacebetweenthe shells, said flange having a groove formed therein, whichgroove provides the sole means for retaining one edge of said breakerstrip in place and a gasket member held in position at least partiallyby said flange.

2. A refrigerator cabinet construction, the

combination of inner and outer metallic shells spaced from each other, abreaker strip closing the space between the shells, one of said shellsbeing provided with, a depression, which de- .-;.pressi0n provides thesole means for retaining 20' gasket member, said depression also beingformed one edge of the breaker strip in position and a to retain saidgasket in place.

3. In cabinet construction, the combination of spaced-apart inner andouter sheet metal shells, a flange on each of said shells, said flangesbeing spaced apart and extending towards one another, said outer shellhaving a groove formed thereon and adjacent the flange thereof, a heatbreaker of thin non-metallic material secured adjacent said spaced-apartflanges to bridge the space therebetween, one edge of said breaker beingpositioned in saidgroove, a preformed strip of substantially S-shapedsection having two oppositely-facing grooves therein, one of the groovesof said strip engaging the edge of the heat breaker opposite a the edgeengaged by the groove on the outer shell and the other groove of saidstrip engaging the edge of the flange on said inner shell in such amanner that said 'S-shaped strip may be slid susceptible onto saidflange during assembly and is retained thereon without the use of nails,screws, or the like, said strip being substantially undeformed duringand after the assembly of the refrigerator structure, widely spacedapart members adjacent the heat breaker for holding said inner and outershells in spaced relationship, said members being the sole meansadjacent the breaker strip for so holding said shells to minimize theflow of heat from one of said shells to the other through said members,and heat insulation between said shells.

- ORLAN'D H. YOXSIMER.

